This invention relates to the treatment of disorders of the human eye, particularly glaucoma.
Glaucoma is characterized by intraocular pressure resulting at least in part from a diminished outflow of aqueous humor through the trabecular meshwork.
Epstein et al. (1982) Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 22, 6, 752-756 describes experiments in which eyes from dead calves, macaques, and baboons were fitted with stainless-steel corneal fittings. The eyes were perfused, by filling the anterior chambers at 15 mm Hg and 22.degree. C., with a solution containing the toxic compound N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), a compound reactive with sulfhydryl groups. It was found that a "dosage of NEM of 4.7 in mM or greater produced a significant increase in the facility of outflow in the calf eye." "NEM also caused an increase in outflow in the monkey eye." The paper goes on:
Our results indicate that chemical modification of cellular --SH groups can also alter the egress of aqueous humor from the trabecular meshwork. Cellular or intercellular permeability to fluid flow in the aqueous outflow channels may be influenced by the state of cell membrane protein sulfhydryls. Trabecular --SH groups may be intimately involved in the normal process of aqueous outflow, especially if located at sites of normal resistance in the juxtacanalicular tissue or endothelium of Schlemm's canal. Alternatively, --SH groups may exert only a secondary influence on outflow through nonspecific structural changes in trabecular cell membranes.